A reader of Cruise Law News in Brazil has informed us that a crewmember of the Armonia cruise ship, operated by MSC Cruises, died yesterday after being admitted to the hospital in serious condition.

A newspaper in Brazil (G1 in Sao Paulo) reports that a local woman, Fabiana Pasquarelli, age 30, was taken from the MSC cruise ship and was eventually admitted to the intensive care unit of Hospital Ana Costa.

The deceased crewmember worked as a waitress and was taken to the hospital on Wednesday with a fever and cough and was apparently diagnosed with pneumonia.

There is also speculation that she may have died of swine flu.

Five other crewmembers are also sick and have been under observation in the hospital since Friday.

The cruise line said that passengers are disembarking the cruise ship today and new passengers will board.

If you have information about this incident, please leave a message below.

February 18, 2012 Update: Passengers from the cruise ship have also been hospitalized in serious condition.

Another Brazilian newspaper, A Tribuna, has an account and reports that the diagnosis is unclear although it is the result of an infectious process.

Ms. Pasquarelli died of an acute respiratory failure after being placed on a ventilator.

February 19, 2012 Update:

A newspaper in Brazil states that seven people of the ten passengers and crew from the cruise ship were released from the hospital. Three remain hospitalized. The hospital ran tests to determine the type of infection that caused the sickness.

Also, a newspaper in Buenos Aires reports that heath authorities in Uruguay were on board the MSC cruise ship, which docked this morning at the main port in Montevideo after fears of a flu outbreak. The ship is expected to arrive to Buenos Aires tomorrow. Osvaldo Fabacchi, the head of Port Administration in Montevideo, stated that “at present the cause of the crew member’s death has not been confirmed. The autopsy has yet to be carried out in order to determine and confirm the cause of death.”

Trackbacks (0)Links to blogs that reference this articleTrackback URLhttp://www.cruiselawnews.com/admin/trackback/271594

Comments (8)Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end

José Godolphim -
February 18, 2012 2:21 PM

Updated information on the death of the crew, other passengers, besides the five crew members are hospitalized in serious condition with the same symptoms of the crew dead, still do not know the reason of death or illness of the crew and passengers.

We would like to inform you that our friend Fabiana Pasquarelli is died because of our boss Eugenio Manfredi.
Our bar manager and hospital wanted to give her 1 week at home to solve her sickness (at home) and after embark again, but EUGENIO MANFREDI (boss of our boss) didn´t give her, and menacing her if she desembark she didn´t come back again. She was affraid to desembark that why she become more sick.

Crew member -
February 19, 2012 7:48 PM

Fabiana went to the doctor but he was too busy reading a magazine. The doctor told her: "Come again in crew time, I am busy now!". After si went to bar manager and said: "Boss, I cannot work, I have fever!" and bar manager told her: "Maybe you need a supositorium. May I offer you one?". Fabiana went again to the doctor, he made her an injection and a serious allergia exploded after on her body. The third day, when she was disembarked, she was vomiting blood. They disembarked her like a dog, her tray, her pool cap and the bottle opener were threw on the coridor, like "this one is not good for work anymore". Her luggages were left in the port and the person in charge of us, the crew purser did not even announced the familly and he did not knew to wich hospital she was send. Can you imagine that such a thing is possible in 2012? Yes, unfortunatelly it is. Our friend died efectivelly in her cabin, without nobody to care. This is the life onboard for the crew members. We are almost forced to smile to the passengers by the F&B manager, Eugenio Manfredi, but nobody knows what is in our souls. Pain, anger, tiredness, hours of stress and the idea, the permanent idea that here you are just a number that as long as is good for work...can stay onboard!

Rafael -
February 20, 2012 7:05 PM

I knew Fabiana, i worked with her some years ago, in the same department. The healthy center of the MSC company centers, when it comes on the crew, is something unbelievable. it doesnt matter what kind of simptom you report, they always think you are just pretending and dont want to work. i am not say people dont do that, they do. Working 11 hours a day for months is not easy. I have heard that some other companies treat much better their crew members, i really hope so. for that and others reasons, i am never coming onboard again. i ve never been sick onboard, my experience was hard but amazing. Italians from MSC must get some hard time from authorities about this subject.

MSC Cruises Press Office -
February 21, 2012 5:50 AM

MSC Cruises is making every effort to clarify the circumstances leading up to and following the death of MSC Armonia crew member Fabiana Pasquarelli. Ms Pasquarelli disembarked from MSC Armonia for medical reasons on 15 February 2012 in Santos, Brazil. She was then taken to local hospital Ana Costa where she died on Friday 17 from respiratory complications. The health and safety of both crew and guests is MSC Cruisesâ€™ number one priority and we will continue to fully co-operate with local health authorities in Brazil until official reports will allow a clearer understanding of this tragic event. MSC Cruises works hard to ensure that industry standards in terms of crew health and safety are always respected. An internal investigation to verify whether procedures were correctly followed will be launched.

I am ex MSC crew, all experienced aboard.
I had several health problems: diarrhea, body aches, flu.
Today I am with pneumonia who could be more a death aboard.
Incredible negligence of the doctor you have never seen time to medical care.
Crew service 08 am to 09h and 05h to 04 pm, how absurd.
There is now Time for you to get sick?
Life aboard isn't easy.
Authorities abuse, sexual harassment, bullyng, unethical.

Food sloppy, dirty kitchen.

Supervisors making you work beyond the hours allowed.
Working for more than 13h, and asking you to sign schedule 11hours.

Let's do NATIONAL MOBILIZATION
I will prove in this Brazilian tvs absurd.
In Brazil there are labor laws that you have to be punished.

David West -
July 15, 2012 4:01 AM

I took a cruise early in the year with MSC after reading this I will never book with them again.

Post A Comment / Question
Use this form to add a comment to this entry.

Name:

Email Address:

URL: (optional)

Comments:Remember personal info?
YesNo

About Jim Walker
"Everything the cruise lines don't want you to know" is the motto of this award winning maritime law blog authoredMore...

The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements. Before you make this important decision, ask us to send you written information about our qualifications and experience.